Part 13 (1/2)
”Come on,” said her mother. ”I'll drive.”
When they arrived at the emergency room, Jake was pacing the waiting area, talking on a cell phone. He snapped it shut when he saw them come in and strode toward them.
”Where is he?” Tess demanded.
”I'll show you,” said Jake. ”Follow me.”
Tess raced after her brother down the hospital corridor and through a set of double doors. They met a doctor who was emerging from a curtained cubicle. ”He's in there,” said Jake. ”This is his doctor.”
”I'm Erny's mother,” Tess said.
The bald-headed physician smiled and patted her hand rea.s.suringly. ”Take it easy,” he said. ”He's gonna be all right. He was knocked out by the fall. He's conscious now, although he's going to have a little headache. He's bruised up but otherwise he seems to be okay. We're still waiting for some of the X-rays.”
”Oh thank G.o.d. Is he awake? Can I see him?” Tess asked.
”Sure, go on in,” said the doctor.
Tess pushed back the curtain and walked into the cubicle. Erny was lying on the bed under a white sheet. His face, normally a nutty brown, looked unnaturally pale.
She leaned over the bed and carefully enfolded him in her arms. ”Honey, what happened? Are you okay?” she asked.
”Ouch, that hurts, Ma,” he complained.
Tess released him gently. ”I'm sorry. Are you in a lot of pain?”
Erny shrugged. ”Not too much,” he said.
”The doctor said you're kind of bruised up but you're going to be fine. How did this happen, Erny?” Tess asked.
”Well, I wanted to try and go fis.h.i.+ng. So I found this long stick and some string and I made a fis.h.i.+ng pole. I even found a lure for it. And then I climbed up this tree and s.h.i.+nnied out on the branch. I figured that would be a good place to fish from.” Erny shrugged as if the result was self-explanatory.
”Did it break off? The branch?”
Erny shook his head. ”The wind started blowing all of a sudden and the branch was creaking and...I don't know. I tried to climb back down from it and I fell.”
”It must have been scary,” said Tess.
”It didn't scare me,” Erny said.
”Well, it scared me,” said Tess. ”When I heard you were knocked out it scared me half to death.”
Erny looked at her with wide eyes. ”I didn't get hurt that bad,” he said.
Tess brushed a curly lock of black hair off his skinned forehead. ”Thank G.o.d.”
”Did Uncle Jake get my fis.h.i.+ng pole? I made it myself.”
”I think he was a little bit too busy getting you to the emergency room.”
”Maybe he got it,” said Erny.
”Maybe,” said Tess.
”Can I go home now?” he asked.
”Soon,” said Tess. ”They need to get a few more X-rays and then we'll take you home. You just rest. Can I get you anything?”
”A Sprite?” he said.
Tess smiled at him, feeling absurdly relieved by his simple request. ”I'll see what I can do. I'll be back.”
The boy nodded. ”Thanks, Ma.”
”You rest.” She backed out of the curtained cubicle and then walked down the hall and through the double doors to the waiting room.
Jake, who was sitting beside Dawn, looked up when she walked in. He and Dawn both rose to their feet and approached her.
”How's he doing?” Dawn asked.
”He's going to be all right.”
”Thank G.o.d,” said Dawn with a sigh.
”Yeah, he's asking for a Sprite. And his fis.h.i.+ng pole.”
”I saw a soda machine down the hall,” said Dawn. ”Let me get him one.”
”Would you, Mom?” Tess asked. ”Thank you.”
”Sure.” Dawn hurried off.
Jake chuckled. ”He couldn't wait. He had to go fis.h.i.+ng. Made his own pole. That's what I would've done at his age.”
Tess turned on her brother. ”Where were you when this happened?”
Jake raised his hands helplessly. ”I was just finis.h.i.+ng my work. He and the dog were out playing. I told them not to go too far. The dog came back by himself. So I went looking for him.”
Tess looked at him balefully.
Jake scratched his head. ”It was one of those things, Tess. The kid just wanted to try something...”
”He could have been seriously hurt!” she said, her voice louder. ”Or killed.”
”Well, he could have been, but he wasn't,” Jake said.
”No big deal, right?” said Tess.